50 Books a Year - The 2025 Challenge

#7 Not a Happy Family - Shari Lapena……..lots of false trails, twists and turns, I really enjoyed this one.

#6 This is Happiness by Niall Williams
An interesting book, rather Joycean, with some sort of stream of conscienceness. An Irish village at the back of beyond is about to get “the electric” in the 1950s, the protagonist is about 15 and falls in love.
Charming if with too many words…

7 Watermelon Marian Keyes (Audible)

Marian Keyes books are ok this was an easy listen, I wouldn't be inclined to pay money for one, or use a credit on Audible. This was one of their freebies. Mildly humorous, but the narration was overly laden with meaningless ramblings, predictable female characterisations, whose main objectives seem to be getting pissed, buying clothes, waiting for the next good looking man to arrive after being dumped by the previous one. In this Claire, living in London with husband James, is dumped by him whilst simultaneously giving birth to their first child and returns home to her native Dublin to live with her parents and sisters. At a later stage, husband comes crawling back, it doesn't work out, in the meantime, tall dark handsome man, Adam, mature student, friend of one of her sisters, gives her the glad eye and there you have it, new man, hidden baggage that comes to light along the way, but ultimately a good 'un. All works out well in the end. I've only read a couple of her books, maybe I need to give some others a go, I do find her female characters of the one dimensional nature. Having said that not bad, middle ranking sort of a book.

No.6
Losers Club by Yvonne Vincent.
This starts off as a mildly humorous story of a weight loss group - the Losers.
Quickly, tho, it becomes a mildly humorous story of murder and long-hidden secrets in a Scottish island community.

10-The Fix-David Baldacci
Amos Decker is a detective with hyperthymesia, so he remembers every detail. This comes in handy when he is a witness to a cold-blooded murder outside the FBI Headquarters, with the killer turning the gun on himself. Why would a family man do this?
A good story with lots of twists and turns, but the thickness of 588pages makes my thumbs ache.

I read ‘Crow Lake’ fairly quickly (for me) as it’s my kind of book. Family dynamics. I really enjoyed it and was delighted every time I picked it up. Had to laugh at the end (my fault) last 20 mins left of the novel on my Kindle and rushing because I was in bed and the Kindle had run down to 7% battery life. Aargh! Rather spoiled the ending racing against time!

Will choose another novel tonight. Perhaps our book club read, the ‘Sally Diamond’ one as I don’t want a repeat of my misjudged timings that I panicked over with the ‘Whalebone Theatre’. Not good for my blood pressure!

Book 9 All the Beggars Riding by Lucy Caldwell
A strange title but a very enjoyable read.

When Lara was 12 and her younger brother was 8, their father died in a helicopter crash. He was a prominent plastic surgeon and worked partly in Belfast during The Troubles, and in London for 2 weekends a month at a Harley Street clinic where he had met their mother years before. Only once had they gone on holiday together to Spain, where their mother cried and their father lost his temper and left early.

Because home for their father wasn't in London - it was in Belfast where he lived his other life !

The story is narrated by Lara, now in her late 30s and grieving the death of her mother and confronting her past and her parents' relationship. It's poignant and beautifully written.

This is the second book of Lucy Caldwell's that I have read and I would give both of them 10/10.

Book 12, Render Unto Caesar, by Nancy Fairweather. It`s the story of how a German Jew came to America, settled in New Mexico as a trader, and they became one of the most powerful families in America.

#8 was Troubled Waters by Gillian Galbraith. Another book set very close to home for me in north Edinburgh, by an author I hadn’t read before.
A young disabled girl is lost on a snowy night and unable to find her way home. Within hours of her disappearance, a body is discovered on a rocky island in the middle of the Firth of Forth. No sooner has DI Alice Rice discovered the identity of that body, than another one washes up on the edge of the water. What links the bodies, and can Alice solve the case before another life is taken?
I quite enjoyed this, I think there are more with this detective so I will check the local library (this was a withdrawn library book). 7/10

8 The Echo Chamber John Boyne

Reading about this book on line, it revealed that it was a revenge novel by one of my favourite authors, after he caused an online storm with a previous works, namely, "My Brother's Name is Jessica" published in 2019, on the highly topical subject of "transitioning" This book is written very much as a parody of those who are full of self righteous anger and magnify minor slips ups around pronouns.

Graham Cleverly the transgressor of the piece, successful talk show host of many years, accidentally calls Nadia, receptionist at his solicitors, "he" as that individual had always been known to him as Aidan until becoming a woman more or less overnight. Reviled once his error is out there on the Twittersphere, clumsily backtracking he continues to dig deeper holes for himself.. Meanwhile, his successful author wife, Beverley Cleverly has been having an affair with her Ukranian dance partner, when she was partnered by him on Strictly tasked with looking after his pet tortoise whilst he visits his homeland. Working on her latest book she employs a "ghost writer" also Ukranian, who she discovers at a later stage has become her lover's lover.

The Cleverley's have three fairly useless children, eldest son Nelson (named after Mandela) is under a psychiatrist (who happens to be his father's lover) for his addiction to uniforms and lying about his status when wearing them, for example Dr, PC.. His sister Elizabeth, is an on line troll who attacks all and sundry, including her own family, behind the anonymity of @TruthIsaSword. Completing the family line up is youngest son Achilles who extorts money out of middle age men by leading them up the garden path into perspective dalliances, but manages to extricate himself before any transgressions take place. Over the course of the book, matters go from bad to worse for Graham until he completely loses it on several occasions becoming persona non grata, .

It's laced with humour and of course very topical. At 400 pages it did seem a tad too long and whilst it was quite entertaining, I didn't enjoy it as much as some of his other works that have had a far more sombre tone.

#14. Trigger Mortis by Anthony Horowitz.

Book 13, Exit Lines, another Dalziel and Pascoe book by Reginald Hill.

Book 14, Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton, published in 1911. It`s only a thin book, didn`t take long to read, a rather sad and miserable story.

Book 10 The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

Four families, secrets, betrayals and a million little lies.
The incident happens in the middle of the night at Whitney's house, the grandest house on Harlow Street.

Friends, neighbours and the authorities gather to piece together the events of the last 24 hours. Secrets are uncovered.

This is a real page-turner about motherhood, marriage, sacrifice and the huge expectations forced onto women.
There is loneliness, heartache, longing, loss and desire. The characterisation is brilliant and poignant.

I give this book 10/10 and will definitely be looking for other books by this author.

You might like The Push Sparklefizz, this was Ashley Audrain's first book. Read it a while ago, similar theme of motherhood.

My January recommendations:

#1 What a Way To Go by Bella Mckie who wrote How to Kill Your Family which I also loved.

Anthony Wistern, rich and powerful, is dead. His wife and four children each have a motive. And there’s a true crime-obsessed outsider ready to expose the killer…

#2 The Life Impossible by Matt Haigh.

When retired Maths teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan.

#3 The Garnett Girls by Georgina Moore*

A family saga of 3 sisters

#4 Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty.

A woman makes predictions on a plane about when and how people will die and the book follows the effect on several passengers. One of Liane's best, I think.

I've also read some really rubbish books this month, but that's my fault for going for the 99p Kindles! These are the books I have enjoyed.

Lyndylou I was disappointed in Bella Mackie's What a Way to Go, nothing like as good as How to Kill your Family which I loved.

9 The Party Tessa Hadley

A novella, a mere 100 or so pages, I read it in an evening,. Whilst it was a library book, the price was on the cover and at £12.99 somewhat steep for a book with not a lot of content. Having said that I do like Tessa Hadley.

Two young sisters, Evelyn a clever A level student studying French literature, and her older glamours sister, Moira, art student student with a keen interest in fashion are invited to a party at a disused pub which is a bit of a dive. The setting is Bristol, post war, early '50s Moira has a boyfriend who was killed in action in Malaya. At this party they meet a couple of men who invite them a few days later to another gathering of mainly louche Bohemian individuals, living in a large mansion in an upmarket part of the city. There the girls get embroiled in a "Truth or Dare" game. The final scenario could have had repercussions that would have extended the book into something of more substance in a "what if" kind of a way, this was very much in the short story vein, a bit too brief to be really satisfying.

Book 5: The Maids of Biddenden by G. D. Harper- This is historical fiction set in the 1100's in Biddenden in Kent. It is the story of conjoined twins Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst. It is an interesting story built around there possibly legendary existence. It reminds you how few rights women had in the past. Today they are still remembered at Easter when Biddenden cakes with images of the Maids on them are given out.

TerriBull

You might like The Push Sparklefizz, this was Ashley Audrain's first book. Read it a while ago, similar theme of motherhood.

I've just reserved it at the library TerriBull !

Lyndylou I enjoyed Here one Moment by Liane Moriarty too.

Book 15, The Merchant`s Partner, by Michael Jecks. A murder mystery set in I`d say the early 1300s, but no actual year mentioned. A good read though.

11-The Scarlet Nightingale-Alan Titchmarsh
Who would have thought that the man we know and love for his gardening expertise, could write such a good story. I've read most of his novels but I think this is his best.
Rosamund Hanbury goes to live in London with an aunt when her parents die in a road accident. When war breaks out she joins the special forces and her life changes forever.
If you've not tried AT's novels, this one is worth a read.

Book 9
I know it’s you - Susan Lewis
I have a strange relationship with Susan Lewis novels, I dislike her stereotyped characters, almost always rich, beautiful, successful. Any children/teens, are always in my opinion, very poorly written.
But, she always tells a good story.
This is a good story, but I have to say I was quite often confused.
A woman is released from prison, she has always denied her crime, murder, and has always accused her friend and colleague, Marina, who to be fair, has more motive, seeing as the murdered girl was having an affair with Marinas husband.
Marina marries Maxim, wealthy American tycoon, and they, naturally lead a perfect life with their perfect twin daughters.
On release, Shana, starts sending chapters of a book she’s writing to an agent, telling the story as she sees it, but changing all the names.
This is where the confusion comes in. One chapter in real time, one in Shana’s book, same characters, different names, same story with obvious differences.
I quite enjoyed it, but definitely not one of my favourites.
She also offers an alternative ending, that, I always find annoying, I shouldn’t have read it, but on balance, the alternative ending was better.

#15. Bloodline by Mark Billingham.